This invention relates generally to an electrical center and more particularly to an electrical center that is associated with a wiring harness.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,916 granted to Joseph H. Gladd et al. May 16, 2000 discloses an electrical center 8 having a two-piece housing comprising an upper housing 10 and a lower housing 12. The electrical center 8 includes a circuit board 14 that is sandwiched between the upper housing 10 and the lower housing 12. The circuit board 14 carries a plurality of terminals 16, 16A, 16B, 16C and 16D of various configurations that have an upper terminal engagement feature 22, 22A, 22C etc. Terminals 16, 16A, 16B and 16C are two-way pass-through terminals that have a lower terminal engagement feature 24, 24B while terminal 16D is a one-way terminal that has only one engagement feature.
The upper housing 10 is designed to receive fuses and/or relays (not shown) that are plugged into the upper housing 10. The fuses and relays have terminals that engage upper terminals features 22, 22A, 22C etc. when such devices are plugged into the upper housing so that the fuses and relays are connected into various electrical circuits that are partially formed on the circuit board 14 as electrical traces in a well known manner. The lower housing 12 has a plurality of bays 17 for receiving plug-in connectors at the ends of various wiring harnesses (not shown).
The plug-in connectors of the wiring harnesses house terminals attached to the ends of the insulated wires of the wiring harnesses that engage the lower terminal engagement features 24 or 24B when the plug-in connectors of the wiring harnesses are plugged into the bays 17. Thus the insulated wires of the wiring harnesses form parts of the various electrical circuits that are partially formed by traces on the circuit board 14. For automotive vehicle applications, the two piece housing of the electrical center is customarily mounted on the body of the automotive vehicle and then the plug-in connectors of several wiring harnesses are plugged into the bays.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,891,463 granted to Yasutaka Nagaoka May 10, 2005 discloses another electrical center 1 having a two-piece housing 2 having a lower casing 2A and an upper casing 2B that house a circuit board 3 equipped with a plurality of one-way terminals 10 that are attached to the circuit board 3. Terminals 10 have upper engagement features 11 that are engaged by the blade terminals 5a of the fuses 5 when the fuses 5 are plugged into the upper casing 2B. The circuit board 3 also carries electrical socket connectors (unnumbered) that are accessible via cut-out portions of the upper casing 2B. Plug-in connectors of wiring harness connectors (not shown) may be plugged into the electrical socket connectors that are carried on the printed circuit board 3 so that the insulated wires of the wiring harnesses form parts of the various electrical circuits that are partially formed on the circuit board 3.
It is also known to have a power distribution block, such as Delphi Power Distribution Block 13595105, that has a housing that is attached directly to the terminals at the ends of the insulated wires of a wiring harness without any intervening plug-in connector of the wiring harness. Fuses and relays are plugged into the housing to engage the terminals at the ends of the insulated wires of the wiring harness. However, the power distribution block does not include any splicing capability and is otherwise functionally limited due primarily to the absence of a circuit board that can handle several electrical devices and circuits.